In 1905, Marin benefactors William and Elizabeth Kent (Kentfield, Kent Middle School) purchased over 600 acres of what was then Redwood Canyon (it’s now Muir Woods) for $45,000. At the time, William famously told Elizabeth, “If we lose all our money but save the trees, it will be worth it.” The Kents believed the best way to save the redwoods was to donate the acreage to the US. Government.
Yet it wasn’t easy! Local water interests wanted to dam the canyon and create a reservoir for southern Marin. To the rescue came Gifford Pinchot, a Yale classmate of Kent’s and the first head of what is now the National Park Service. Working together in 1907, Kent and Pinchot convinced President Teddy Roosevelt that his recently signed Antiquities and Monuments Act allowed him to designate “objects of historical and scientific interest” as national monuments. So in January of 1908, Muir Woods National Monument, named for Kent’s acquaintance the naturalist John Muir, became a reality. Then in 1911, as the photo of Muir Woods Inn attests, President Roosevelt’s second wife Edith visited Muir Woods as guests of the Kents. Unfortunately, the inn was later destroyed by fire and never rebuilt.
Presently, another American president is playing a role — though not as significant as that of Teddy Roosevelt — in the annals of Muir Woods National Monument. In spring of 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 3431, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” calling for the removal of any “unpatriotic” signage installed in national parks and monuments since 2020. And Muir Woods National Monument was among the first in the nation to be caught in the “cleansing” campaign. “It’s disappointing and embarrassing,” retired NPS Park Ranger Lucy Scott recently expressed on CBS Sunday Morning.
Included in the Department of Interior sweep were placards from the early 2020s highlighting: settlements of Native Americans in the area; the role women played in the development of Muir Woods; and, especially angering to Scott, the impact that climate change has in reducing fog that redwoods depend on for water. Not to be dismayed, Scott assured the millions of Sunday Morning viewers, “We’re going to continue to fight climate change and protect the redwood forests as best we can.”
